tallinn: It is interesting that a small change in the position leads to a draw: if the black rook, white pawn, white rook combo is on the c file white cannot win. The defense b8Q against the black mate threat on h1 is not possible then.

I noticed that by chance as I did set up the position wrong on my computer. Was very puzzled about Fritz evaluating this position to a 0.00.

Marmot PFL: This is the kind of position I hate to play for black, where white has the better minor piece and keeps advantage even with queens off. The side with the knight has a solid enough position but has trouble finding useful moves and often cracks eventually. Burying the knight on the back rank is almost never good. A good alternative seems 30...g6 and Ng7-e6.

SomeoneElse: I really liked this puzzle because it is exactly the kind of situation over-the-board where I usually manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory: "Look he can't perpetually check me with his rook because I'll move Kh3, then I'll have Qxf6+ and victory will be mine!" Making it a puzzle forced me to consider each move more carefully and see black's g4+. A little more effort and finding Rg8 saves the day for white.

Kasputin: It looks bleak for black, but if white simply queens the h pawn on move 58, then black can force a draw by perpetual check. Black may even win the game if white makes a further mistake.

For example.
58. h8=Q Rb1+
59. Kh2 Rb2+
60. Kh3 g4+ and white will get checkmated next move by the rook.

Alternatively, white can avoid the checkmate by not moving the king to h3. But in that case black continues to check back and forth with the rook, resulting in a draw.

Instead white can try 58. Rg8 with the idea that the rook can capture the g pawn if it delivers check to the white king by moving to g4.

For example.
58. Rg8 Rb1+
59. Kh2 Rb2+
60. Kh3 g4+
61. Rxg4 and now if black still tries to checkmate white e.g., by moving ...Rb1, then white can play 62. Rg2 in order to prevent the mate (or 63. Rg3+ might also work or even be better).

Instead if black tries 60 ...Rb1, again with the idea of checkmate, then the following can happen:

Another sneaky try would be to play 60 ...Rb4 instead (aiming for 61 ...Rh4 next move):

58. Rg8 Rb1+
59. Kh2 Rb2+
60. Kh3 Rb4
61. h8=Q now is the correct time to queen this pawn because it prevents 61 ...Rh4. (The only question I have with this particular sequence is if it makes sense to first capture the g pawn with the white rook, e.g., 61. Rxg4 fxg4 and then play 62. h8=Q. But that question can be decided at that time.)

The only other option for black, as far as I can tell, in all of these sequences is to capture the white b7 pawn at some point in any given sequence. But that move - at the cost of a tempo - should allow white the time to queen the h pawn and hang on to win. Also in some of the move orders, if black capture the b7 pawn, then white will have the opportunity to possibly pin the black rook with a new h8 queen by moving to a8 or to check the black king on that same a8 square if the black rook departs from b7. Bringing that white queen out into the open part of the board in that manner could be very important.

Interesting position. Despite two pawns so close to queening, black, because of the situation of the white king and the difficulty that white has in delivering a check to the black king, still has a few tricky resources to try and salvage a half point. I will now check to see if I got this right or not.

Kasputin: One of the funny things is that when I thought about the possible 60 ...Rb4 that I almost gave up and thought that 58. Rg8 might be incorrect. Then I saw that white just needs to queen the h pawn. But it wasn't something that jumped out at me right away (maybe it should have). I wonder if anyone (e.g., <dzechiel> or <johnlspouqe> or any one else) thought about 60 ...Rb4 but didn't bother to include it because white's reply is obvious (again it wasn't immediately obvious to me). Just curious.

johnlspouge: <<Kasputin> wrote: [snip] I wonder if anyone (e.g., <dzechiel> or <johnlspouqe> or any one else) thought about 60 ...Rb4 but didn't bother to include it because white's reply is obvious (again it wasn't immediately obvious to me). Just curious.>

I have noticed that when calculating, I zero in on quadrants of the board too much. Because I focused on the h1 quadrant, I did not consider 60...Rb4.

You are correct in your implicit assumption that I probably would not write down the variation 60...Rb4. I should have considered it mentally, however. Thanks.

Kasputin: <johnlspouge: I have noticed that when calculating, I zero in on quadrants of the board too much. Because I focused on the h1 quadrant, I did not consider 60...Rb4.> I do the same thing. I will also sometimes focus on certain pieces, think about possible moves, possible replies, etc... Then if an unexpected move happens or a new piece enters the fray, it can be quite distracting even if the new move is in reality very easily handled. For example, in this puzzle, like most other kibitzers, I eliminated 58. h8=Q. But just because I mentally eliminated it at this point doesn't mean it never gets to be played - it is afterall a new queen. So when I thought about black playing 60 ...Rb4, queening the h pawn as a reply was off my radar screen. And it took awhile for me to consider this fairly obvious reply.

On a different note, I have to say that I quite like this puzzle from an aesthetic point-of-view. Every piece and every pawn is important in the present position - obviously, this is not always the case in a real game.

dzechiel: <<Kasputin> I wonder if anyone (e.g., <dzechiel> or <johnlspouqe> or any one else) thought about 60 ...Rb4 but didn't bother to include it because white's reply is obvious (again it wasn't immediately obvious to me). Just curious.>

I didn't look at it particularly, as 60...Rb1 seemed like the real threat. Of course 61 h8=Q promotes and defends, much as 61 b8=Q does for 60...Rb1.

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